The development of industrial parks in the country needs to be synchronised with the states’ unique strengths and leverage on specific industry clusters.

“By providing a location which is well equipped with the right ingredients of the highest standards, it has the potential to transform the area into a thriving city of industry.

“Perak, for example, being the second largest state in Peninsular Malaysia, could leverage on the economic development of its bordering states.

“Local SME industrial clusters here could be further strengthened by tapping into the supply chain of big corporations or multinational companies in neighbouring states,” said Deputy Minister of International Trade and Industry at the Industrial Park Forum, Dr. Ong Kian Ming, for the Northern Region held at Weil Hotel, Ipoh.

“On the topic of infrastructure, park developers should also consider the move towards Industry 4.0 and the world of automation as it is important to embrace new strategies and enhance current infrastructure and facilities to meet new demands, such as technical support for electronic devices and smart monitoring equipment, which requires round-the-clock, stable, high-speed internet in the parks,” he added.

“As the demands of the industrial players increase, our industrial park developers also have to up your game in order to meet the demand for higher standard,” said Ong, quoting the Bayan Lepas Free Industrial Zone (FIZ), Proton City in Tanjung Malim and Kulim Hi-Tech Park as examples of some notable industrial parks in the country.

In his speech, Ong pointed out three distinguishing factors for industrial parks, namely, public-private partnerships for world-class infrastructure, an ecosystem strategy for incentivising and attracting a particular segment of industry and growing the downstream manufacturers, and dedicated support by state investment agencies

Also present were deputy chief executive officer of Malaysian Investment Development Authority (MIDA), Arham Abdul Rahman and chairman of Federation of Malaysian Manufacturers (FMM) Perak, Datuk Gan Tack Kong.

“Malaysia’s 13 states and 3 federal territories offer their unique strengths and ecosystems to investors and it is our desire to undertake initiatives in every state to encourage more equitable spread of investments throughout Malaysia.

“While Perak is well-known for its Old Town White Coffee, soya bean curd (tau foo fah), hot springs and limestone hills, the state also has a very diversified industrial portfolio,“ said Arham.

In promoting the state to investors, MIDA is working closely with the state government including the State Economic Advisory Council (SEAC), which was established in July.

“We are pleased to note that the State Government has given special attention to attract quality foreign direct investments to the state.

“With the efforts and initiatives undertaken by the Kumpulan Perbadanan Kemajuan Negeri Perak (PKNP); as well as private developers such as Stellar World (Pengkalan Hulu) and Proton City Development Corporation (Tanjung Malim), we strongly believe that the state is moving towards the right direction in preparing for the new wave of investors,” added Arham.

A total of 5,500 manufacturing projects have been approved and implemented in the Northern region, thus far and these projects amounted to RM178.5 billion of investments while foreign investments accounted for RM119.4 billion or 67 per cent of total investments and domestic investments made up the rest.

In addition to creating more than 680,000 jobs, these projects have also opened doors for spillover benefits to be enjoyed by local businesses in Perak, Penang, Kedah and Perlis as well as the overall economy.

For the first half of this year (1H2018), MIDA has approved an additional 88 manufacturing projects with investments of RM3.1 billion for the northern region and once these projects are realised, 5,171 more job opportunities are available for this region.

Perak alone attracted a total of 16 approved manufacturing projects worth RM364.5 million in 1H2018.

The recent MOUs that were signed between Invest Perak and 5 companies, once realised, will translate to RM1.9 billion worth of investments and additionally, MIDA already has a total of 15 manufacturing projects in the pipeline for Perak with proposed investments of RM755.7 million.

The Industrial Park Forum was jointly-organised by MIDA and FMM and it was attended by over 200 participants from various fields, including business chambers, local authorities, park developers & managers, utility companies, manufacturers and potential investors.

The Forum featured a panel discussion by a broad range of speakers from Perbadanan Kemajuan Negeri Perak (PKNP), Telekom Malaysia, Finisar Malaysia, Penang Development Corporation (PDC), Ditrolic Solar, Proton Holdings Berhad, Lembaga Air Perak and Kulim Hi-Tech Park.

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